Water Day marked by concern about the survival of glaciers and efforts to increase resilience to floods and avalanches

SLOVENIA, March 20 - The United Nations has declared 2025 the International Year of Glacier Conservation to highlight the importance of glaciers in regulating global climate and hydrology and in providing drinking water. Slovenia has only a few small glaciers. Their existence is mainly linked to the water reserves in their headwaters, which, in winter, are long covered by a snow cover and are very important for maintaining river and groundwater flows, even in periods when there is no precipitation. However, the retention of water in headwaters brings with it the risk of landslides and flash floods.

 "Today, I am pleased to see that in the aftermath of the floods, we have successfully focused on flood recovery, on rebuilding the affected areas - and also on strengthening the climate resilience of river basins more broadly. In this way, we have actively joined the global effort to increase the climate resilience of river basins. This is a resilience priority in the science and profession of modern societies." Jože Novak, Minister of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning understands climate resilient river basin management - including in transboundary cooperation - as strategic cross-sectoral integrated water planning and management. This takes into account social and development needs, challenges and opportunities related to water in a particular region, community or economic activity. In order to reconcile different water interests with the public good, sustainable water management must simultaneously take into account environmental, social and economic objectives. It is therefore important that adaptive and sustainable water management is also reflected in other policies.

Dr Lidija Globevnik, Director General of the Water Directorate within the Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning, presented the main highlights of the revised flood regulation. The concept of flood and erosion resilience is being introduced, through which the planned facilities and activities will be adapted to negative impacts of flooding and the resulting erosion: for normal facilities, 100-year water resilience, and for sensitive facilities, 500-year water resilience. Flood risk will now be defined for entire river basins. Flood hazard data will also be provided in the form of anticipated flood elevation angles.

Since the mid-19th century, glaciers around the world have declined significantly. As pointed out by Dr Matija Zorn from the Institute of Geography at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, satellite records have shown that the thickness of glaciers has decreased by an average of about 14 metres since 1976. This has contributed to more than 22 millimetres of global sea level rise. By 2050, areas where 300 million people live today are projected to be below the level of the average annual coastal flood. The melting of glaciers in mountains is creating more and more glacial lakes, which pose a great risk of flooding in the event of a sudden spill.